Splitting xml file into multiple files

xmlsql has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I've read the Twig documentation and Jenda's article but as a newbie I'm still lost. Can any one suggest the code for splitting one xml file into multiple xml files based on a particular element with the name of each new file being the datetime the file was created. I do know how to generate the datetime stamp

One new file needs be created for each <Message> element from the original xml file. Each message section can have different child elements so I need to grab everything between <Message> ... </Message> and write it to a new file. The original xml file has the format :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TheRoot>
<Message>
  <MyNumber>001</MyNumber>
  <Registration>222</Registration>
  <GPS>
   <Year>2009</Year>
  </GPS>
  <LbtSession>
   <Year>2009</Year>
  </LbtSession>
</Message>
<Message>
  <MyNumber>887</MyNumber>
  <Registration>333</Registration>
  <Client>None</Client>
  <Type>Position</Type>
</Message>
<Message>
etc...
</Message>
<Message>
etc ...
</Message>
</TheRoot>

Thank you in advance.

Comment on Splitting xml file into multiple files

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Splitting xml file into multiple files by derby (Abbot) on Sep 14, 2009 at 13:01 UTC
xml_split has all ready been given and is probably the best choice for simple splitting; however, if you're looking to upgrade your XML toolkit, then XML::LibXML is a good choice and something along the lines of below should get you started. `#!/usr/bin/perl use XML::LibXML; my $file = shift \|\| die "usage $0 <xmlfile>"; my $parser = XML::LibXML->new(); my $doc = $parser->parse_file( $file ); my $nodes = $doc->findnodes( '/TheRoot/Message' ); foreach my $node ( @$nodes ) { print $node->toString(); }` [download] -derby	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Splitting xml file into multiple files by Anonymous Monk on Sep 14, 2009 at 12:48 UTC
xml_split	[reply]
Re^2: Splitting xml file into multiple files by xmlsql (Novice) on Sep 14, 2009 at 13:52 UTC
The reason why this was no good and the documentation was lost on me was that it split the large file into individual files but the values of each child element were blank even though in the original large file they were valued.	[reply]
Re^3: Splitting xml file into multiple files by derby (Abbot) on Sep 14, 2009 at 13:59 UTC
Are you seeing an error message when calling xml_split? The &nbspetc actually makes the example XML invalid. You may have non-well-formed XML that is causing the tools to barf. -derby	[reply]
Re^3: Splitting xml file into multiple files by Anonymous Monk on Sep 14, 2009 at 14:22 UTC
That means you only tried the first or second example, its the third one you want, as I showed you.	[reply]
Re^2: Splitting xml file into multiple files by xmlsql (Novice) on Sep 14, 2009 at 13:05 UTC
I did read the documentation you pointed on re the comment on xml split prior to posting my question. The documentation was of no help at this point. That was the reason for posting. Can anyone suggest what the code should be? Thank you inadvance.	[reply]
Re^3: Splitting xml file into multiple files by Herkum (Parson) on Sep 14, 2009 at 13:25 UTC
I can understand you being unable to follow the documentation, it is cryptic. However, you should at least try to use it even if you don't understand it. Then you can see what you can learn from it. Programming is not all about technical skill and almost nothing runs perfectly on the first go. Sometimes you have to try something just to see what will happen.	[reply]
Re^4: Splitting xml file into multiple files by Anonymous Monk on Sep 14, 2009 at 13:34 UTC
Re^3: Splitting xml file into multiple files by Anonymous Monk on Sep 14, 2009 at 13:26 UTC
The code should be xml_split. $ cat f.xml <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <TheRoot> <Message> <MyNumber>001</MyNumber> <Registration>222</Registration> <GPS> <Year>2009</Year> </GPS> <LbtSession> <Year>2009</Year> </LbtSession> </Message> <Message> <MyNumber>887</MyNumber> <Registration>333</Registration> <Client>None</Client> <Type>Position</Type> </Message> </TheRoot> $ $ xml_split -vc Message f.xml generating main file f-00.xml generating f-01.xml generating f-02.xml $ cat f-00.xml <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <TheRoot> <?merge subdocs = 0 :f-01.xml?> <?merge subdocs = 0 :f-02.xml?> </TheRoot> $ $ cat f-01.xml <Message> <MyNumber>001</MyNumber> <Registration>222</Registration> <GPS> <Year>2009</Year> </GPS> <LbtSession> <Year>2009</Year> </LbtSession> </Message> $ $ $ cat f-01.xml <Message> <MyNumber>001</MyNumber> <Registration>222</Registration> <GPS> <Year>2009</Year> </GPS> <LbtSession> <Year>2009</Year> </LbtSession> </Message> $ [download] This is my first time using xml_split.	[reply] [d/l]